AP NASA has launched a rocket with its latest, third-generation Tracking and Data Relay satellite.

NASA's super-high-flying fleet of communication satellites just got bigger.

An unmanned rocket blasted into a chilly, clear sky on Thursday night carrying the latest, third-generation Tracking and Data Relay Satellite.

NASA uses the TDRS satellites to support the International Space Station and Hubble Space Telescope, among other craft.

The network is 35,800km high, at various locations above the equator, and allows continuous two-way contact with the space station and its six inhabitants.

The TDRS system is so vital it's considered a national asset.

A modern-day human space program would be difficult if not impossible without the constant coverage provided by the TDRS satellites, said Badri Younes, NASA's deputy associate administrator for space communications and navigation.

Ground stations - limited in number - would provide just a fraction of that capability.

Each satellite has a pair of dish antennas 4.5 metres in diameter.

"Not only are we getting global coverage 100 per cent of the time, we are getting it in real time," Younes said, snapping his fingers, at a news conference earlier this week.

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NASA launches newest satellite